Dhoni reprieved as weather closes in

The tourists had made a surprising declaration midway through the morning session, ending their innings on 269-6 – a lead of 280. And it looked like it might pay off as they took two quick wickets to leave the Windies on 48-2 at lunch.

But, after losing Adrian Barath for 27 early in the second session, the hosts were able to shore up their innings thanks to Darren Bravo and the watchful Shivnarine Chanderpaul seeing them through to tea.

Rain arrived in the evening session with the West Indies on 181-5 and, although a pair of quick wickets gave the tourists hope again after play resumed, bad light closed in to ensure a draw.

India had added 40 runs at the cost of three wickets before Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s declaration. Having begun the day well set on 229-3, India watched Virat Kohli go at the end of only the second over and it was the same combination of Darren Sammy and Fidel Edwards who accounted for VVS Laxman, 13 runs shy of a century.

Dhoni was in attacking mood and it proved costly as he spooned another Edwards delivery up to give Chanderpaul an easy catch.

Shortly after reaching the pavilion, Dhoni decided his side had done enough – no doubt aware of possible bad weather later in the day – but a target of 281 left the door open for the hosts to seek a series-levelling victory.

Lendl Simmons hit three quick boundaries but then went for 14 when he edged an Ishant Sharma delivery to Rahul Dravid.

When Ramnaresh Sarwan went for eight, also caught in the slips off Praveen Kumar, to leave his side on 27-2, Dhoni’s move was looking inspired.

Barath had been the steady hand before lunch, but did not survive long after it, caught in the slips off Sharma.

There was joy after tea, with Chanderpaul trapped lbw by Harbhajan Singh having made just 12 off 87 balls – though that was exactly the kind of innings his side had needed.

Marlon Samuels followed soon after and bad light ultimately intervened.

India lead the series 1-0 going into the final Test in Roseau next week.

Friends Life T20: Middlesex remained rooted to the foot of the South table after suffering an eight-run defeat against Essex at Chelmsford.

Although only faced with a modest total of 139-9, the visitors finished on 131-8 – and that included a bonus of six runs when Essex were penalised for not completing their overs in the permitted time.

It was Middlesex’s 10th defeat in a dozen outings. Ryan McLaren was the only visiting player to score over 20. He struck an unbeaten 35 from 30 deliveries, but not before he received three lives. He survived a sharp caught and bowled chance to Ryan ten Doeschate, before he was put down twice in an over by David Masters on the fine-leg boundary – both off the bowling of Graham Napier.

Napier, ten Doeschate and Tim Southee were the most successful Essex bowlers with two wickets each.

Essex reached the end of the 15th over in disarray at 76-7 but boosted that by 63 in the final five. That surge was spearheaded by Napier, who struck three sixes in an over against spinner Tom Smith before falling leg before wicket to McLaren for 23 in the next over.

Ten Doeschate went on to make 28 from 20 balls before paceman Steven Crook had him caught in the deep.

In contrast, Ravi Bopara again struggled to find his touch. He needed 10 deliveries to get off the mark and his innings of 14 spanned 28 balls and included just one boundary. He was finally put out of his misery when Smith had him caught behind. Smith, Crook and McLaren each picked up a couple of wickets while Crook also ran out Owais Shah.

County Championship: Jeetan Patel took his first five-wicket haul for Warwickshire as they sealed an eight-wicket win against Sussex in the LV County Championship at Arundel.

A hundred from Luke Wright and a half century from Ollie Rayner had raised Sussex’s hopes of saving the game.

However, Patel removed them both in quick succession to finish with figures of 5-6 while Boyd Rankin (4-60) added two wickets to the two he had taken yesterday as Sussex were dismissed for 301 to leave Warwickshire needing just 72 to win.

That proved a simple enough task as the Bears wrapped up victory 44 minutes after lunch for the loss of just two wickets.